A look into the personal game history of Jamie Schott, a student at Full Sail University.
Created by JMSchott on Aug 8, 2010
Last updated: 08/08/10 at 03:37 PM
Tags: Personal Game History Full Sail Jamie Schott
Question 1: Why was this game important to you? Super Mario 64 was the first 3D game I'd ever seen. I was already a big Mario fan and we couldn't help but get this game. My sister of course got to play it first, but when she handed it off to me, I was thrust into this amazing 3D world with a great story and tough levels. I loved the different worlds, enemies, and hats that Mario came across. There was even a hat that you put on to make Mario fly! It was a big step in gaming for me. Question 2: From a Design Perspective, What made the game fun? This game taught me the incredible depth and design that is possible with 3D gaming. There are so many aspects that make Super Mario 64 enjoyable for gamers of many ages. The colorful, yet challenging worlds and enemies create an environment for open exploration, creativity, and overcoming difficulties. Even the camera allowed for varied views that could be controlled by the player. With the amazing content this game has, it's no wonder it is one of the most revolutionary games of all time.
Question 1: Why was this game important to you? Mortal Kombat II was the first violent game I really played. Sure my previous game had you beating up bad guys, but they didn't involve chopping off your enemies head in a fatality. Knowing it wasn't real made it easy for me to get into this game. I would pick the coolest looking character to me and try to battle my way to the top of the list of fighters while trying to master button combinations. My sister eventually bought a guide book that listed all the abilities and their button sequences. I loved trying to complete tough moves and end the fight in a fatality. Question 2: From a Design Perspective, What made the game fun? This is an incredibly fun, fighting type of game. It combines unique environment backdrops, varied characters, and fighting depth to create a game you could play over and over. Each character had it's own special moves that were activated with specific button sequences, and each move was different and powerful in its own way. You could spend hours just trying to get the perfect move down pat to use on your friend the next time you played together. Certain backdrops also added the ability to use special finishers. If you got the "Finish Him!" ending on a certain level, you could uppercut your opponent, causing them to plummet into a pit of spikes below the fighting area.
Question 1: Why was this game important to you? Earthworm Jim made such an impression on me because of it's insane uniqueness. The game involved strange things such as launching cows into the air, shooting a laser gun at crazy looking dogs that wanted to eat you, and swinging on hooks by Earthworm Jim's head. The pure strangeness it presented left me wondering what could be next? I loved hoping across a rubber tire pile or jumping across hot lava to shoot a ghost looking creature with sharp teeth. Question 2: From a Design Perspective, What made the game fun? This game taught me how you can implement such wild ideas into a compelling game. You control Earthworm Jim as he traverses strange worlds where you interact with your environment and shoot baddies with laser guns. A big fun aspect, in my opinion, is how much you actually do interact with the land around Earthworm Jim. If there's a tire pileup in front of you, it makes you bounce as you cross it while throwing tires up around you. If there's a chain crossing a spiky pit, you can grab onto this chain and safely cross the spikes that would hurt our hero. That combined with the fun of making that evil crow that wants to eat you explode into just feathers and a beak add up to a strange and enjoyable game.
Question 1: Why was this game important to you? This game introduced me to the possibilities of video games. I had only played Super Mario World prior to this game, and my young mind didn't comprehend that video games could do anything. In this game, you play a martial artist taking on waves of enemies in a "beat 'em up" style of gameplay. You could even pick up weapons your enemies dropped and wield them yourself. The vast difference this introduced me to boggled my mind. I played this game for hours! Question 2: From a Design Perspective, What made the game fun? This is a simple type of game, with the goal being to defeat all the bad guys and the boss of each level to advance. Even with it being so simple, it was very entertaining. Partly it's difficulty, and partly it's weapon variety is what drew me to it. There was rarely a break in waves of enemies, so it provided a fun level of difficulty. Nun-chucks were my favorite weapon since they reached a little farther then others, and if I could defeat the bad guy before he got to me, there was less of a chance of taking damage.
Question 1: Why was this game important to you? This game showed me not only to explore, but the value of bonding over video games. When my sister received a Super Nintendo and Super Mario World for her birthday, I would watch her play in awe. Eventually, she let me play alongside her, and we explored Mario's world side by side. It was a great time when we found a secret world previously unknown to us and we could share that moment together. Question 2: From a Design Perspective, What made the game fun? This is a platformer type of game in which the player controls the main character on screen as they adventure in a side-scroller type world. The 3rd person perspective is well utilized in displaying the varieties of worlds on the main map. I believe that is one of the games stronger points; the variety of game worlds. You can traverse a forest, dark cave, or even an underwater world in one sitting. Combined with great gameplay (who doesn't love stepping on a goomba?), this makes for an entertaining game.
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